Walters Ms. W.41, Cologne Psalter-Hours

W.41

Cologne Psalter-Hours

Psalter-Hours

This Psalter-Hours was made for a Franciscan community in Cologne, Germany, in the late thirteenth century. It is especially notable for its large program of illuminations, which includes roundels in the calendar depicting the labors of the month, two full-page miniatures, fourteen historiated initials, and grotesques perched upon the top of bar borders throughout. It is identical in style to Baltimore, Walters Ms. W.111, and both are related to the style of Liège manuscripts of the 1280s-90s. They are also considered to be stylistic precursors of works by Johannes von Valkenburg, such as two graduals he created for Franciscans in Cologne in 1299 (Cologne, Diözesan Bibliothek Ms. 1B and Bonn, Universitätsbibliothek Ms. 384).

Late 13th century CE

Cologne, Germany

Book

Devotional

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin. The secondary language of this manuscript is German, Middle High (ca.1050-1500).

Parchment

Cream-colored parchment, thin to medium thickness

Foliation: i+342+i

Foliated in 1937 in pencil in upper right corners of rectos; two flyleaves; first and last folios blank but integral to the first and last quires, therefore foliated

Formula: i, 1(12,-1,10), 2-15(12), 16(10), 17-19(12), 20(12,-1), 21-29(12), i

Catchwords: None

Signatures: None

Comments: Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 11(2), 22(3), 34(4), 46(5), 58(6), 70(7), 82(8), 94(9), 106(10), 118(11), 130(12), 142(13), 154(14), 166(15), 178(16), 188(17), 200(18), 212(19), 224(20), 235(21), 247(22), 259(23), 271(24), 283(25), 295(26), 307(27), 319(28), 331(29)

7.7 cm wide by 10.9 cm high

5.0 cm wide by 7.3 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 17
3. Ruled in brown ink; layout does not apply to calendar

fols. 1r - 342v:

1. Title: Psalter-Hours
2. Hand note: Written in Gothic bookhand
3. Decoration note: Two full-page miniatures; one full-page historiated initial; twelve large historiated initials (7-8 lines high); two small historiated initials (4-5 lines high); calendar containing twelve medallions (8 lines high) and KL monograms in gold; images mainly in rose and blue against burnished gold grounds; Psalm incipits beginning with decorated initials in gold (3 lines high) with bar borders on rose and blue grounds with white penwork; single grotesques on tops of bar borders and initial tails; red or blue capitals beginning each sentence; rubrics in red; text in black ink

fols. 2r - 7v:

1. Title: Calendar
2. Rubric: Januarius
3. Text note: Calendar for Franciscan Use; half full, graded in red and black; notable for Franciscan feasts, including Translation of St. Francis (May 25), St. Anthony of Padua (June 13), St. Clara (Aug. 12), and Birth of St. Francis (Oct. 4)
4. Decoration note: Roundels with the labors of the month on each folio, sometimes cropped

fols. 8v - 9v:

1. Title: Prefatory images
2. Decoration note: Full-page miniatures on fols. 8v and 9v

fols. 10v - 226v:

1. Title: Gallican Psalter
2. Incipit: Beatus vir
3. Text note: Divisions at eight Psalms for the liturgical week (Psalms 1, 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, and 109), with additional divisions at Psalms 51 and 101
4. Decoration note: Full-page historiated initial on fol. 10v; historiated initials on fols. 43v, 65v, 84v, 85v, 105v, 131r, 153v, 156v, and 178r

fols. 226v - 247v:

1. Title: Canticles
2. Rubric: Cantica moysi
3. Incipit: Confitebor tibi Domine
4. Decoration note: Small historiated initial on fol. 226v

fols. 247v - 256r:

1. Title: Litany and collects
2. Rubric: Lettania
3. Incipit: Kyrie eleison
4. Text note: Franciscan saints included as in calendar, i.e. SS. Francis and Clara

fols. 257r - 294v:

1. Title: Hours of the Virgin
2. Rubric: Dit ist unser Vrowen metene
3. Incipit: Domine labia mea aperies
4. Text note: Rubric for matins in German; rest of manuscript in Latin
5. Decoration note: Historiated initials on fols. 257r and 285r

fols. 295r - 330v:

1. Title: Office of the Dead
2. Rubric: Incipiunt vigilie mortuorum
3. Incipit: Placebo
4. Decoration note: Historiated initial on fol. 295r

fols. 331r - 341r:

1. Title: Hours of the Holy Spirit
2. Rubric: De sancto spiritu
3. Incipit: Sancti spiritus assit nobis gracia
4. Text note: Office preceded by the first line of Psalm 101 (one of the Seven Penitential Psalms)
5. Decoration note: Historiated initial on fol. 331r

fols. 341r - 341v:

1. Title: Salve Regina
2. Incipit: Salve Regina misericordie
3. Text note: Text added to blank parts of folio in the seventeenth century

fol. 2r:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for January: hooded man feasting, stoking fire
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: January

fol. 2v:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for February: man pruning vines
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: February

fol. 3r:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for March: man hoeing
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: March

fol. 3v:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for April: man with flowering branches
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: April

fol. 4r:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for May: falconer
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: May

fol. 4v:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for June: young man picking flowers
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: June

fol. 5r:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for July: man with scythe
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: July

fol. 5v:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for August: man with sickle
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: August

fol. 6r:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for September: man trampling grapes in tub
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: September

fol. 6v:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for October: sower
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: October

fol. 7r:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for November: man carrying dead hog on his back
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: November

fol. 7v:

1. 
2. Title: Labor for December: man butchering hog
3. Form: Roundel, 8 lines
4. Text: Calendar: December

fol. 8v:

1. 
2. Title: Annunciation
3. Form: Full-page miniature

fol. 9v:

1. 
2. Title: Crucifixion
3. Form: Full-page miniature

fol. 10v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "B" with Ascension and Pentecost
3. Form: Historiated initial "B," full-page
4. Text: Psalm 1
5. Comment:

   The inscription on the image reads "[B]eatus vir," or "Blessed is the man."

fol. 43v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with David pointing to his eyes below the face of God
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 26

fol. 65v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with a pilgrim below the face of God
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 38

fol. 84v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "Q" with a seated king holding a sword and orb
3. Form: Historiated initial "Q," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 51

fol. 85v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with a fool below the face of God
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 52

fol. 105v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "S" with Christ blessing and David in the sea
3. Form: Historiated initial "S," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 68

fol. 131r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "E" with David playing bells
3. Form: Historiated initial "E," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 80

fol. 153v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "C" with two clerics singing
3. Form: Historiated initial "C," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 97

fol. 156v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with David pointing to the mouth below the face of God
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 101

fol. 178r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with Christ enthroned blessing
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Psalm 109

fol. 226v:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "C" with Noli me tangere
3. Form: Historiated initial "C," 4 lines
4. Text: Canticles

fol. 257r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with Virgin and Child enthroned
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: matins

fol. 285r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with Deposition
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 5 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Virgin: vespers

fol. 295r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "D" with Bosom of Abraham
3. Form: Historiated initial "D," 7 lines
4. Text: Office of the Dead

fol. 331r:

1. 
2. Title: Initial "S" with Pentecost
3. Form: Historiated initial "S," 8 lines
4. Text: Hours of the Holy Spirit

The binding is not original.

Sixteenth- or seventeenth-century boards (possibly beech) re-covered in the nineteenth century with now worn red velvet, probably by Gruel; eighteenth- or nineteenth-century clasps, crudely reattached

Made for the Franciscan community in Cologne, Germany, late thirteenth century (calendar and litany contain many Franciscan saints)

Léon Gruel collection no. 1128, Paris, late nineteenth or early twentieth century (bookplate on inside upper board)

Henry Walters, Baltimore, acquired from Gruel before 1931

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 770, no. 82.

Oliver, Judith. "The Mosan Origins of Johannes von Valkenburg." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 40 (1978): 23-37, figs. 8, 10 (fols. 10v, 43v).

Oliver, Judith. "The French Gothic Style in Cologne: Manuscripts before Johannes von Valkenburg." In Miscellanea Neerlandica: Opstellen voor Dr. Jan Deschamps ter Gelegenheid van Zijn Zeventigste Verjaardag. Leuven, Netherlands: E. Peeters, 1987, pp. 381-396.

Oliver, Judith. Gothic Manuscript Illumination in the Diocese of Liège (ca. 1250-ca. 1330). Vols. 1-2. Leuven, Netherlands: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1988, p. 176 (vol. 1), pl. 179 (vol. 2).

Principal cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934

Editors: Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William

Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Davis, Lisa Fagin; Dutschke, Consuelo; Emery, Doug; Hamburger, Jeffrey; Klemm, Elizabeth; Noel, William; Sciacca, Christine; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

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